Today I take over as Editor of Left Foot Forward. It’s a great privilege to be running an outlet which has long championed the pluralist, progressive values I believe in.

And it comes at a (sometimes dauntingly) interesting time to be writing about politics – with an enlivened opposition and a Conservative party in disarray.

I step into the shoes of the excellent Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, who is joining the TUC after over a year and a half at Left Foot Forward. They are some big shoes to fill – huge thanks to Niamh for her work and for making Left Foot Forward reach out more than ever.

And I’m very pleased to be joined by Oscar Webb, our new Reporter. Oscar previously edited the London Student – the largest student newspaper in Europe – before it was shut down by university management in July 2014.

Oscar has written for Vice, the London Review of Books and the Telegraph as a freelancer, and brings a great deal of insight and new ideas to the site.

A little bit about me – I started off at Left Foot Forward as an intern around 2012, under then-Editor James Bloodworth. I went on to freelance for the site, before being made Contributing Editor last year.

In the coming months, Left Foot Forward will be expanding its MediaWatch coverage – which holds a spotlight to divisive or misleading content in the press – and looking towards breaking new stories, as well as providing a voice for grassroots campaigns, union organising and new political movements. There are a lot of progressive stories – yes, good news in the world – out there, waiting to be covered. Left Foot Forward will continue to provide a home for them.

The cross-party, open-minded vision of Left Foot Forward is needed more than ever. In this fragmented and chaotic times, the need for new ideas to energise the left is essential.

I look forward to contributing to that debate in the coming months – and I hope you’ll join me. If you’ve got an idea, a story or know something that needs covering, drop me an email: editor@leftfootforward.org.

I’ll be looking for fresh ideas and new contributors to help shift the debate, and make our movement bigger and bolder than ever. Good to have you on board – and thank you for all your support. .

Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.